


The Art of Domesticity

by galixr



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alcohol, Baking, Camping, Domestic, Drunkenness, F/M, Fluff, Gardens & Gardening, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 17:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7114567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galixr/pseuds/galixr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>TenII's extremely domestic, bumbling adventures with not being able to do 'human' things.<br/>-<br/>Written for timepetalsprompts weekly ficlet prompt(s): camping and gardening</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of Domesticity

**Author's Note:**

> Completely unbeta'd so every mistake is mine.

The Doctor found himself wandering into their garden barely conscious with a steaming hot cup of tea in his hand. The early breeze ran its icy fingers through his hair. His slippers were steeped with fresh morning dew.

The garden had been dead for a couple weeks now. His herb box lie pathetically wilted and the strawberry plants were not coming back next spring. Even the ivy that grew up the side of the cottage had started to shrivel.

"I used to have such a green thumb. Thank you Donna Noble," he muttered, puffing a strand of hair out of his face.

Every plant seemed hopeless, besides the tiny shoot, dead center in the garden. It's feeble aquamarine stalks shot up from the ground. The baby TARDIS barely looked like even a tomato plant, but it was so much more.

He bent down to inspect the plant. Last week she had been a block of coral sticking up from the ground. Now she looked like any old plant in the garden.

"That's good," the Doctor said to himself, "learning how to use the chameleon circuit already. Oh, that's brilliant."

He smiled at the plant and gently prodded one of her leaves. She illuminated under his touch and he let out a soft giggle. The low level hum in the back of his mind intensified with gentle affection.

The Doctor perked his head up at the sound of a rustling from the back door. He turned around to find Rose Tyler yawning in her favorite pink sleep shorts.

"Mornin' Doctor," she drawled. "How's she doing?"

"Well, she's starting to test out the chameleon circuit," he replied as Rose approached the plant, crouching down to their level.

Her chin found its way onto the Doctor's shoulder. She nestled a short peck against his neck and murmured inaudible words into his skin.

"What did you say, love?" he whispered.

"I know how hard this is for you, staying here in one place," she said.

"S'not really that hard. I can do domestics."

"Hmmm, our dismantled toaster oven tells a different story."

"That was just boredom, Rose Tyler. I quite enjoy being domestic with you."

His eyes closed as a lazy smile spread over his face. He turned his head towards hers and leaned in for a chaste kiss.

Rose shivered, breaking away from his lips. "Can't wait though," she told him with a delighted grin. "The Doctor and Rose Tyler, back in the TARDIS."

"It's going to be brilliant!" the Doctor replied.

-

"Roooose!" came a strangled cry from their kitchen. "I think I killed the orchids your mum gave us."

Rose had busied herself with an alarming amount laundry. The Doctor's voice cut through her focus, causing her to roll her eyes and come running towards him.

Not only was the orchid plant withered to a brown shoot, but the countertops were coated in a layer of flour.

"What on earth!" she said, eyes darting around the room.

"It's not what it looks like," the Doctor sputtered as he whirled around to face her.

Flour sprinkled in his wild brown tresses. His shirt was missing, his bare chested glory on display for all to see. A loose pair of pajama bottoms clung to his narrow hips. He shot her a smile, batting his big brown eyes in innocence.

"What the hell, Doctor?" Rose shouted.

"I-I was trying a Pinterest recipe!" he told her, an earnest look painting his features.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a tired sigh. "It's like I'm living with a child," she mumbled. "What were you even trying to make?"

"Galaxy cookies," he said.

The Doctor turned their flour covered laptop to face her. The adorable looking sugar cookies on the screen and the excited look on his face made her soften her gaze.

"Oh, scoot over, let me see what you did wrong," she sighed. Her hip bumped his out of the way as she tapped at the computer.

"I knew you couldn't stay mad at me," he grinned. His arms hooked around her waist and pulled her closer to his chest.

The Doctor pressed a sloppy kiss to her temple. She giggled and leaned away from him pretending to wipe his spittle off of her skin.

He stuck out his bottom lip in a pout and hung his shoulders low in mock sadness.

"Come here," Rose sighed, holding her arms out to him.

He launched himself at her and peppered her face with kisses.

"I love you, Rose," he reminded, lips on her nose.

"I love you too, Doctor," she replied.

-

"Bloody hell, it's like I'm putting together furniture!" the Doctor exclaimed from the insides of what should be a tent.

They had decided to visit the countryside, do a little camping before Torchwood flew Rose out to Peru for a special assignment. It would be the first time the Doctor would be separated from her for a long period of time and he wasn't seeming to take it so well.

"Roooose," he whined. His limbs flailed around in the bright orange material as he called out for help.

A tiny scream and a plopping sound against the wet earth indicated the he had fallen. Rose's hands flew to her mouth to contain the laughter on her tongue. She smiled affectionately at the moving, orange mass before deciding to help.

She unzipped the front of the crumpled material. The Doctor lay inside, surrounded by a mess of plastic sticks and clamps, pawing at the now empty air in order to save himself.

He stopped abruptly when he realized she could see him. With a quick ruffle of his hair, the Doctor flipped onto his stomach and shot a sheepish grin at her.

"Do you need any help?" she said. Her tongue poked through her teeth as her cheeks grew pink.

He looked deliciously ruffled, having not shaved for two days and wearing the blue jumper that he knows drives her insane. His jeans clung tightly to his body in all the right places. The other Doctor, hardly ever changed, but her Doctor seemed to become fond of human clothes. He was especially taken by soft jumpers and hoodies. Rose couldn't bring herself to care.

"Yeah, maybe," the Doctor said, eyes hitting the ground in embarrassment.

"Well, did you follow directions?"

"Errrm..."

"Doctor."

"Probably not..."

She sighed, though her smile still brimmed with affection.

"Where'd you put the directions?" Rose asked.

Again, he avoided her eye contact and bit on his bottom lip.

"I might have... thrown them away," the Doctor squeaked.

She resisted the urge to whack him on his forehead. For being such a genius, he can get incredibly thick.

"You prawn! What did you do that for?" Rose inquired.

"Rose, I'm a 905 year old Time Lord. Me and you have both defeated fleets upon fleets of enemies. I thought maybe I could handle putting up a tent!"

"Evidently not!"

They both were locked in a staring contest. Besides their heavy breathing, utter silence was in the air.

And then a plastic stick snapped, causing the material to float down on top of them.

"Maybe we should go find a hotel?" Rose suggested, her vision seeing nothing but orange.

"Yeah," came the Doctor's muffled voice.

-

Pissed the Doctor was, absolutely sloshed, without any point of return.

Rose found herself growing angry as she watched him pound back pints at the bar. He was running her patience so very thin.

  
She wasn't angry that he was drinking, that was the point of the whole night. Jake's bachelor party wasn't supposed to be a dull affair. What did make her angry was his adversary against her going with.

"It's a bachelor party Rose!" he had said. "Bachelors only, no bachelorettes."

"Doctor, you've never even had alcohol in this body. I want to be there in case something happens!"

"What's the worst that could possibly happen?!"

This was the worst that could possibly happen, aside from him having a weird allergic reaction to the drinks. She knew from previous experience that his alcohol tolerance was quite high. She also knew that this trait had most likely not carried over to his half human self.

Rose forced herself to watch as he downed shot after shot, getting more and more incoherent as the night wore on.

She stopped him at approximately 2:03 am. Almost everyone else had gone home, save the Doctor and Jake. They had somehow traveled to the floor. The pair were singing some outdated pop song, with eyes half closed and slurring words.

Rose got up from her booth in the corner. They'd agreed that she would stay there unless something truly bad happened. In her book, this was truly bad and she knew he'd be haunched over the toilet the rest of the night if he continued on.

She grabbed the Doctor collar and yanked him up sharply. He let out a yowl of surprise and whirled around to face her. His gaze tried to fixate on her, but it wandered off as he let out a small burp.

"'Ello Rose," he mumbled, pupils now on the ceiling. He swayed from foot to foot, still humming the song.

"Doctor, we need to leave!" Rose commanded, her face sharp with anger.

"D'aaaaaaw but we jus' got here," he whined.

"Look at me!" she said, snapping her fingers in his face. "We're going home now! I'm calling a cab and we're getting Jake back to his flat and we're going home!"

The Doctor blew a displeased raspberry, but the look on his face told her that he understood the fun was over.

He tapped Jake lightly on the shoulder, interrupting his drunken remix on "Purple Rain."

"Jakey boy, we gotta go. The missus said so," the Doctor informed.

Jake's face fell into a pout as Rose's jaw dropped in bewilderment.

"The missus?!" she exclaimed. Rage was now burning in her cheeks as she stared the Doctor down.

The two fell silent. Jake made a bumbling attempt to stand up, gripping onto a barstool with shaky hands. She came to his rescue and helped him into his feet.

The trio worked their way outside with slow, stumbling steps. The cold air seemed to hit the Doctor as he kept muttering words of apology under his breath. Rose hailed a cab, Jake leaning into her shoulder.

The cab ride was completely silent, until Jake left the car.

Soft sobs cut through her rock hard rage. She turned to face the Doctor, who had collapsed against the window. He had been crying and not the soft, quiet crying. His face was a mess of mucus and tears. He muttered words that Rose couldn't catch.

"Oh god, I'm so stupid!" he whined, tilting his head back.

"Doctor," she said softly.

He turned to look at her with guilt shining on his glossed over eyes.

"M' so sorry Rose! You were right! I'm such an idiot!" He drawled the end of each sentence, bursting into more sobs when he finished talking.

Rose fought the urge to agree with him. She joined her hand with his and rubbed her thumb soothingly over his knuckles.

"I can' do anything right! I can't garden! I can't bake! I can't put up a bloody tent 'nd I can't even get drunk righ'!"

"Shh," she hushed, "it's alright Doctor." Her anger melted away to compassion for her Doctor.

"S'not! I treated you like shit! You were right! I can't be human right! I'm never gonna get it right!" Tears were now falling down his cheeks at an alarming rate.

"Doctor, look at me," she said, grabbing his chin and pulling his face towards hers. "We all make mistakes. Remember when I put dish soap in the dishwasher? Remember all the bubbles that got everywhere and how upset you got because I got your sonic pen wet and it stopped working for little bit?"

The Doctor sniffled, lip quivering as he nodded.

"But then you threw bubbles in my hair and you started to laugh. We made up and we fixed my mistake. That's all that matters, because I love you. No drunken night out is gonna change that."

She brushed a tear away from his cheek and pressed a small kiss to his forehead.

"I love you too," he mumbled, his voice nasally and thick.

"Though you do owe me a good movie night, and you're paying for Thai next time," she informed.

The Doctor hiccuped and sucked in a hasty breath. "Done," he said.


End file.
